Will Windows 8 Hurt?

Microsoft’s tile-and-app-based Windows 8 operating system is taking a lot of heat these days. Some think the OS, which rolled out last fall intent on integrating touch-screen displays with old-school keyboards, is a bold, refreshing, social-savvy departure for the ubiquitous stalwart of desktop computing. Others argue the ground-up rebuild is confusing and turns its back on users who’ve spent decades—literally, decades—perfectly happy with their humble virtual desktops, including their ever-present “Start” buttons and all the shortcuts, files, and folders that litter their screens like bird droppings.

The truth is, six months on, there’s still clear uncertainty among consumers who are considering Windows 8. Coupled with the friendly-fire introduction of Microsoft’s tablet Surface, which came initially with a stripped-down version of Windows 8 that confused consumers and deeply annoyed many of Microsoft’s tablet-making partners, it’s easy to see why this bold step forward could be seen as a bold misstep.

But hold your fire. I’ve spent a solid three months using Windows 8, and while I am the first to admit that the transition wasn’t particularly seamless, I’m also the first to admit that maybe we all need this. Windows 8 is indeed a next-generation advancement—one that’s striving to bring a bunch of different worlds together. There’s the laptop/desktop world, with its monitors and keyboards and get’er done productivity. There’s the tablet world, with all its apps and breezy mobility. There’s the world of users who flit effortlessly between the two—or at least, who would like to. Windows 8 is a multiplatform environment designed to enable power-users to stretch their legs when they want to be tablety and park their butts in a chair when they need to crank out spreadsheets or PowerPoints.

Which is fine, except not everyone is a power-user who wants the best of all worlds. I’ll wager that much of the Windows marketplace is comprised of people who might not be truly considered early-adopter types. Think, for instance, of the office worker-bees the world over who just want to do their jobs and don’t particularly care if their machines still run Windows XP, or if their social-media feeds are streamed directly to their monitor’s home screen. Those great, unimpressed masses, I suspect, are the ones presently peeing in Microsoft’s latte.

Okay, Windows 8 isn’t for everyone. But I’ve compiled some insights and tricks I’ve picked up after three months of hardcore tile-pinning and screen-swiping that may help you decide to give the new OS a chance, regardless of where you fall on the early-adopter scale.

1) Fear not the installation: If you upgrade an existing machine, all your software and files will carry over to the new operating system. They may be sequestered in an “old” file, but they’ll be there.

2) Rethink “Start”: This is what really bugs Windows veterans the most—the absence of the “Start” button on the bottom left corner of their old Windows desktop. Instead, Microsoft has blown out the Start menu to an entire screen, filled with tiles representing your world of programs, documents, and folders. It does take getting used to, but it’s versatile. You can slide left or right, adjust the placement and prominence of the tiles, and easily shoot back to the Start screen from whatever you’re working on just by hitting the Windows logo on your keyboard. For the holdouts, Windows 8 does indeed have a desktop view that you can place files and program shortcuts onto—but it’s still absent that start button. Your trick: adapting your brain to think of the Start screen as an even better version of your smartphone’s home screen, showing not just apps and folders, but actual documents you use all the time. Once you make that mental transition, you’ll find yourself going less and less to the desktop view.

3) Tame your cursor: One of the more annoying attributes of Windows 8 is how easy it is to accidentally activate a menu or program-switch. Every corner of the screen has some functionality embedded within it—cursor over to the top left, and your other open screens will glide out from the edge, head for the bottom right, and you’ll see your search and settings options emerge. They’re like little menu grenades that can detonate without warning if your hand grazes the touchpad in just the wrong way. They can also be severely off-putting if you’re trying to transition to the new system. There’s a fix for that: Disable “app switching” in the PC settings menu and just use the familiar alt-tab to cycle between screens. This will take care of the top-left menu activation, but not the others. Give them a chance, though. Again, once your brain adjusts, you’ll learn to avoid tripping the menus accidentally, and they actually can smooth out the transition between uses.

4) Go for the touch: If you have a laptop with a touch-screen, or a Windows 8 tablet with a keyboard, get used to deploying all methods of interaction at-will. The easiest way to enter information on Windows 8 is via the keyboard, but the easiest way to navigate is with a touch-screen. This isn’t particularly easy with a touch-screen monitor—since monitors tend to sit just out of reach—but laptops and tablets are a snap. You may find yourself typing along and then suddenly lift up your finger to swipe from the left of the screen to change programs or windows, or you may find yourself jabbing the screen to activate an app rather than mousing over. Follow your instincts—that’s what they’re there for.

5) Move your tiles around: Organize your Start screen as you would your smartphone’s home screen. Place commonly used programs and apps to the left, adjust their sizes however you like, and delete (un-pin) tiles you don’t ever use.

6) Just start typing: A particularly frustrating bit of Windows 8 advancement is the difficulty you might have locating files or documents that haven’t been pinned to the start screen. Newly installed programs will appear there automatically, but in the absence of the obvious placement of newly created files by those programs, you might get lost locating some of your stuff. The easiest way to search through your computer is to simply start typing from the start screen. Whether it’s a program/app name, a file name, or even text within a document, just start typing from the Start screen and your options will instantly appear on a fresh search screen, with the list growing shorter as you continue typing. It’s one of my favorite, most intuitive elements of Windows 8.

7) Think “apps” and “sky”: Windows 8 will run any program designed to run on Windows 7, but with the installation of third-party software comes a degree of risk, whether it’s security or stability. But if you start with the app store—a Microsoft-curated collection of programs cleared to run well on Windows 8—you’ll minimize your risk. It’s the equivalent of the iTunes and Android app stores, though with only about 150,000 options compared to their 800,000-plus each. (Windows Store is younger, of course, and most of the stuff you could want would turn up within a 150,000 program inventory.) Also, consider using Microsoft’s SkyDrive, their cloud-storage system. It’s automatically activated when you create a Microsoft account and accessible from any Windows or Mac machine or device. You can share selected items to family, colleagues, etc., and, on Windows devices, edit the files, spreadsheets, and PowerPoints as well.

8) Remember, things aren’t as unfamiliar as they appear: Nearly all of the keyboard shortcuts from Windows 7 will still work on Windows 8—so if you’re lost or confused, just try what feels most familiar. It’ll probably work.

9) Don’t feel obligated to use everything: Part of the conflict among all software and hardware makers is their obvious desire for users to adopt their “ecosystems” fully—their OS, their web browser, their email, their hardware. That’s unnecessary. The email client within Windows 8 works just as well with Gmail as it does with Outlook email—and you’re perfectly welcome to use your browser interface if you don’t like the Windows 8 email reader. Similarly, while Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is nicely customized for Windows 8, you can easily download the Chrome browser app and just run with that instead. Indeed, even if you don’t use any of the new functions within the new Microsoft operating system, you’ll still benefit from the program’s speed and agility. It’ll start faster and run better than any other Windows system.

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